U.S. administers third dose of COVID-19 vaccine to over 1 million people CDC

Sept 1 (Reuters) – The United States has administered a third dose of either Pfizer Inc (PFE.N)-BioNTech or Moderna Inc’s (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccines to over 1 million people since Aug. 13, when regulators authorized an additional shot for immunocompromised people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 205,527,578 people had received at least one vaccine dose, while 174,600,017 people are fully vaccinated, as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

The CDC recommends a third dose at least 28 days after the second dose of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines for people with moderate to severely compromised immune systems, who are likely to have weaker protection from the two-dose regimens. read more

The U.S. government announced a plan to begin offering booster vaccine doses more widely starting on Sept. 20, if the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC decide they are needed. read more

The country has administered 371,280,129 doses and distributed 443,741,705 doses of the two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, as well as Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N) one-shot vaccine.

Those figures are up from the 370,212,027 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Aug. 31 out of 441,332,155 doses delivered.